Meeting of the Council for Coordination with Religious Organisations

Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Ivanov held a meeting of the Council for Coordination with Religious Organisations.

April 24, 2014

17:50

The Kremlin, Moscow

Meeting of the Council for Coordination with Religious Organisations.

The meeting examined the role religious organisations play in preserving the spiritual and cultural identities of Russia’s peoples and their contribution to implementing state policy for migrants’ adaptation.

Religious organisations in Russia play an active part today in various civil society institutions and are partners for the authorities in tackling important social and other tasks. Mr Ivanov noted that this dialogue and partnership are especially needed today when the entire world faces serious risks and problems such as rising interethnic intolerance, erosion and devaluation of traditional values, and a retreat of clear moral and ethical references.

Mr Ivanov said in his remarks that Russia’s spiritual leaders have always been consistent in supporting a united country and society that bring together people of different ethnic groups and faiths. Russia’s religious organisations have made a big contribution to promoting Russian culture and traditional moral values both at home and abroad. They have considerable influence, including influence among fellow faithful in the migrant communities in Russia. This could help the authorities be more efficient in their efforts to help migrants adapt to Russia’s cultural, values, language and legal space.

The meeting participants noted that this sort of work is already underway. In particular, the Federal Migration Service’s regional offices have signed 129 agreements on integration cooperation with religious organisations: 80 with Orthodox organisations, 42 with Muslim organisations, 3 with Buddhist organisations, 2 with Jewish organisations, and 2 with Armenian Apostolic Church organisations. Religious organisations have also opened 37 classes for migrants, 31 organised by the Russian Orthodox Church, and 6 by Muslim spiritual organisations.

The meeting approved a number of concrete decisions on facilitating religious organisations’ efforts to preserve the spiritual and cultural identities of Russia’s peoples and help migrants to adapt to life in Russia.